 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis won the International ODI Bowler of the Year award and Thilan Samaraweera won the International Spirit of Cricket award at the glittering CEAT Cricket Rating awards ceremony, held in Mumbai, India, on Sunday.
The awards honoured the best of international cricketers based on their performances as rated by the CEAT Cricket ratings (CCR) for the year 2008–2009.
CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) is the first cricket rating to officially recognize and reward cricketers for their performances in the international cricket arena. This year CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) awards touched a new high with awards in nine different categories.
Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Group said, "the CCR International Award function is a reiteration of the close association CEAT has with cricket and our endeavor to recognize the individual brilliances on the international cricket scene." He added, "in India, where cricket is not just a sport, CCR awards plays a pivotal role in paying tribute to not just the cricketing brilliance but also the millions of cricketing fans as well."
Australia, India and Sri Lanka dazzled at the event by sweeping away all the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) awards between them.
While Australia won the award of CEAT International Cricket Team – cash prize of Rs 10 Lakh, India’s Gautam Gambhir was the winner of the CEAT International Cricketer and CEAT International Test Batsman awards. India’s Virendra Sehwag was the CEAT International ODI Batsman of the Year.
This year CEAT Introduced the CEAT International Spirit of Cricket Award to celebrate the sporting spirit shown by the cricketers. The CEAT International Spirit of Cricket Award was conferred on Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera, India’s Harbhajan Singh was given a special award, the CEAT International 300 Wickets Felicitation award.
It was also a day to honour the stalwarts of the yesteryears who have carved a name for themselves as legends of cricket. Cricketing legend Erapali Prasanna was awarded the ‘CCR International Lifetime Achievement Award’. The Lifetime Achievement award recipients have been selected on the basis of the Retro-CEAT cricket ratings and have taken into consideration the performances of the cricketers since 1947. Prasanna received a cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh from CEAT.
Award winners:
CEAT International Team of the Year award - Australia
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year - Gautam Gambhir (India)
CEAT International Test Batsman of the year - Gautam Gambhir (India)
CEAT International ODI Batsman of the Year - Virender Sehwag (India)
CEAT International Test Bowler of the year - Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
CEAT International ODI Bowler of the year - Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
CEAT International Spirit of Cricket Award - Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka)
CEAT International 300 Wickets Felicitation Award - Harbhajan Singh (India)
Speaking on the occasion, cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar said, "CEAT International Cricket Rating Awards is one of the most important events in the cricketing calendar as it recognizes the achievements of the players from grassroots to the international arena."
"The ratings are pretty much accurate as you can see some of the modern greats like Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ricky Ponting etc winning the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year in the past," added Gavaskar.
